


The Captain's Chair

by Mithlomi



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: ALL THE FLUFF, F/M, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-05
Updated: 2013-06-05
Packaged: 2017-12-14 02:13:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/831535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mithlomi/pseuds/Mithlomi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This isn't the first time David has disappeared on her...</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Captain's Chair

**Author's Note:**

> RP feels translated into this. Completely unabashed family fluff.

This isn't the first time David has disappeared. Carol remembered the first night she awoke to an empty bed and panic in her heart, calling Jim's name and shaking him awake. He couldn't have gone far, they were on a space ship, but he was small enough to crawl somewhere he shouldn't be, reach things he shouldn't touch, end up hurt...

And as they raced through the corridors, the Captain calling for everyone who heard to help look for his lost son, of course, Carol's mind had raced to the possibility that something else had happened to him, even if it were unlikely. That he'd been taken, hurt. After everything they'd seen, all they'd been through, it wasn't an impossible thought, but Carol's mind jumped to the worst case scenario...

In all honesty, it had only taken them five minutes to find him. For word to reach the bridge that the Captain was awake and for the comm to come through that his son was there. As Carol and Jim rushed to the bridge, the Captain shirtless and the Lieutenant in her robe, they were met with a sight that would stay with them forever.   
Mr Chekov simply smiled, claiming he did not want to wake them... or him. Carol placed a hand on his arm as she moved forward, smiling softly. Her son, her tiny son, curled up fast asleep in the Captain's chair. Carol didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but met Jim's gaze with a small smile on her lips. Careful not to disturb him, Jim gently picked up their sleeping boy, nodded to Mr Chekov and carried him back to their room. David remained asleep the whole time.

When questioned about it the next morning, David responded that he'd had a nightmare.

“Why didn't you wake us up?” Carol asked quietly.

David looked at her then, blue eyes impossibly wide. “The chair makes Daddy brave. I thought it might make me brave too...”

Carol met Jim's eyes, lips parted in shock, not entirely sure what to say, and she saw the same surprise reflected in his own eyes. Their son already has his eyes and his charm and his smarts and his impossible sense of righteousness, but he still thinks he's lacking. Carol pulled him into her arms then, wondering whether she should be grateful that her son is innocent enough to believe a chair can relieve his fears, or cursing herself for making him believe he needs to be braver. That something might happen to him, that he isn't protected. 

Jim took it from there, sitting down besides them, talking to his son as only a father could, wanting to let them fly and wanting to reign them in at the same time. Carol gently stroked David's sandy hair away from his face, watching Jim's face and hearing David's giggle as Daddy made him laugh...

David slept in their bed that night...

So even now, a year later, when Carol comes back from a shift to find both her son and her husband missing, she knows exactly where they are.

Jim's cleared the bridge, so they're alone with she arrives. Carol thought she might spot them on their way back, David asleep in Jim's arms once again. What she doesn't expect to see, however is Jim sat in the chair, David curled in his lap, sleeping against his chest. As Carol moves around to face them, bemused, she notices Jim's eyes are closed too. She lets out a small chuckle, one that's loud enough for Jim to peek open his eyes and smile sleepily at her.

“You can't be comfortable...” she whispers softly. 

“I'm not,” he replies with a grin. “But he is...” Jim looks down at David, and Carol recognises that impossible light that comes into them whenever he glances at his son, holding him tight against his chest. She kneels down in front of them, one hand braced on Jim's leg as she reaches up and brushes the hair out of David's face.  
“Another nightmare?” Carol asks with concern.

Jim doesn't raise his head, still focused on David. “Yes. Mine.”

Carol pauses, frowning as she glances at her husband. Jim takes a shaky breath. “He said... I should try sitting in the chair. He said that usually works...”

“And did it?” Carol asks, her voice catching in her front.

“No. He doesn't understand...”

“No. He doesn't.” Carol places her hand over Jim's, making him look at her. “The chair doesn't make you brave...” Carol said with a soft smile.

“No. The chair doesn't make me brave...” And he drops his gaze once more, resting contently on his sleeping son. “He makes me brave.”

Carol can feel the tears sting her eyes, and she can't help but surge forward, kissing him softly. Because even though it's not quite the response she was looking for, she thinks he can't have said anything more perfect...


End file.
